Church Hires Convicted Sex Offender, Kids banned from Church while he is present.

A convicted sex offender can keep on preaching, but children are barred from attending his sermons.

The Florida Times Union reports that lawyers for Darrell Gilyard withdrew a motion to allow minors at sermons conducted by the former Jacksonville, Fla., megachurch pastor.

Though children are not allowed, attendance at the Christ Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church has spiked since Gilyard began preaching in January, less than two months after he was released from prison, according to the Times Union.

Gilyard, 50, pleaded guilty in 2009 to lewd or lascivious conduct and molestation involving two girls younger than 16. He remains on a three-year supervised probation that bars him from having unsupervised contact with minors.

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And membership and attendence is UP at the church! WTF is happening to this world?

"
"We came because the children who we should be teaching and preaching cannot come out today," said Mikhail Muhammad, the leader of the New Black Panther party, a group of protesters who want Gilyard, who was only released from prison in December, to leave the church.
"The black ministers in the city of Jacksonville ought to be ashamed of themselves. How can you say you're a follower of Christ but you won't stand up and speak out against this injustice?," Muhammad asked. There have been several "ugly exchanges" between church-goers and protesters, the Guardian*reported, as many are divided over whether a man convicted of such a crime deserves to preach in front of a congregation again."

Looks like his preaching is not sitting well with the community. Sheesh this guy sounds like a real piece of work.

I can't wrap my head around the parent that says "our new pastor just got out of jail for molestation, let's take the kids to hear him speak". ...

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I read one article where the Bishop said they were down ( meaning the church was not doing that good) and the preacher was down, so this is to "lift both parties up" and give the church and this convicted molestor a second chance!

"
"We came because the children who we should be teaching and preaching cannot come out today," said Mikhail Muhammad, the leader of the New Black Panther party, a group of protesters who want Gilyard, who was only released from prison in December, to leave the church.
"The black ministers in the city of Jacksonville ought to be ashamed of themselves. How can you say you're a follower of Christ but you won't stand up and speak out against this injustice?," Muhammad asked. There have been several "ugly exchanges" between church-goers and protesters, the Guardian*reported, as many are divided over whether a man convicted of such a crime deserves to preach in front of a congregation again."

Looks like his preaching is not sitting well with the community. Sheesh this guy sounds like a real piece of work.

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What kills me is he was just released from jail, not like he attended any program or even finished parole. He was released and then hired!

And you know what? The molestation in the article I posted was NOT his only stint with sexual misconduct:

While in his 20s, Gilyard pastored Victory Baptist Church in Texas, one of the nation's 10 fastest-growing congregations, but left in 1993 after he was accused of sexual impropriety.

He then went on to Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church, which had to settle a sexual misconduct allegation against him in 1996.

However, the accusations against Gilyard extend further than his conviction of abusing the 15-year-old girl. According to the Guardian's report, in 2004, Gilyard also admitted that he had fathered a child with a woman who had accused him of raping her during a counseling session &#8211; however, the pastor was never charged with a crime.

Democrats believe that he has paid his debt to society and deserves to be restored to his place as a free citizen as if the molestations never happened.

It's how democrats elected an 8 time loser ex-con to political office, how Jesse Jackson Jr. won reelection quite easily, how Marion Berry got elected Mayor after he was released from prison and how Alan Grayson got so many votes.

Check out the sex offender thread. Some don't think he should be "reminded" of past crimes or stigmatized...and others think that it's the resposibility of the kids to identify and reject the advanced of pedophiles.

Check out the sex offender thread. Some don't think he should be "reminded" of past crimes or stigmatized...and others think that it's the resposibility of the kids to identify and reject the advanced of pedophiles.

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It's a matter of fairness and equality. It's civil rights. This is what happens when a society, when a nation becomes degenerate. Degeneracy itself becomes acceptable. Where there is fairness the people lose the ability to judge right from wrong or good from evil. We owe the offender fairness and equality and we owe the children therapy to help them deal with the crimes committed on them. To learn to be more accepting themselves of what is evil. To get over it by becoming more accepting and inclusive themselves.

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